Page 74 of Deceptive Lies

But now wasn't the time.

Willow might be awake, but she’d almost died, she was weak, and injured, had to be in pain, and likely still exhausted.

A mewed protest fell from Willow’s lips when he pulled back, and clear desire shimmered in her turquoise eyes.

“Later,” he promised as he touched a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“Definitely later because right now, with all of us watching, would be totally weird,” Cole joked, making them all laugh.

Shifting his hold on Willow so he was cradling her against his chest, Cooper carried her over to the table where it was clear his brother’s had been hanging out and sat, settling Willow in his lap. There was no wayhe wasn't going to keep her as close to him as physically possible until they’d eliminated the threat hanging over her head.

They might have made it out of the desert, but they were far from safe.

So long as he was alive and free, Tarek Mahmoud was a danger to Willow. She had the ability to destroy him and even if he couldn’t stop it from happening, the professor wanted to ensure he got his revenge on her.

“Let’s take your IV out,” Cole said, pulling up a chair beside them.

“Here. Drink some water,” Cade said gruffly, taking a bottle and unscrewing the lid before handing it over to Willow who took it with a smile.

If his older brother’s gruff manners put her off, Willow didn't show it. While he cared fiercely about the people in his life, Cade wasn't one to sugar coat things, or handle them with care, unless they were talking about his daughter. But he’d accepted Willow as one of them, as had all his brothers, and Cade would treat her as such.

“You should eat something, too,” Cole said as he reached for her elbow and removed the needle, replacing it with a ball of cotton wool and a Band-Aid.

Scrunching up her nose, Willow gave a small shake of her head, even as she sighed. “I'm not all that hungry, I know I should be but I'm not. You're right though, I should eat.”

“You almost died,” Cooper reminded her. As much as he hated to say the words, they were true. Willow had been through so much, she wasn't just going to magically bounce back to full strength. It would take time, a lot of it, before she was fully recovered. “Baby steps. Why don’t you try some fruit, that should be light on your stomach.”

“We have oranges,” Jake said, holding one out to Willow. “It’ll help with hydration, plus lots of vitamins and minerals.”

“Thanks,” Willow said, accepting the piece of fruit.

“Let me check your eyes first,” Cole directed, pulling out a penlight.

“I’ll cut the orange for you,” Cooper told her, there was no way she could hold it and cut it with a broken arm and finger.

“You're doing as well as could be expected,” Cole announced after checking her pupils and then taking her pulse. “I'd feel much better if adoctor checked you out, and a couple of your wounds are going to need to be watched for infection, but as long as you take some time to rest and recover you should be okay.”

“I don’t have time,” Willow reminded them as she took the piece of orange he held out and took a bite. “Professor Mahmoud is still out there and he’s not going to just back off. He must know by now that we weren't in that helicopter when it crashed. Maybe he’d be prepared to let Cooper go, but he’s not going to feel the same about me. I won't stop until he’s held accountable for what he’s done,” she said with the glint of determination in her eyes that he’d come to recognize as being innately Willow Purcell.

“We were thinking we’d sneak you out of the country,” Connor said. “He knows you have Cooper as back up, but he doesn’t know you now have all of us. Once you're back home you can finish up your article and hand over everything you have on him so far to Prey. Eagle would be more than happy to bring down a man like Tarek Mahmoud, I'm sure of it.”

“Actually,” Willow said slowly, dragging out the word as though she knew what she was about to say he wasn't going to like.

If it was anything other than getting herself as far away from danger as possible and having a twenty-four seven bodyguard then she’d be right.

Her safety was his number one priority.

“Actually what?” he asked tightly.

“I have a plan to catch the professor,” she said, meeting his gaze squarely even as he could read the apology in it.

“A plan?” Jax asked.

“One that I'm sure will work,” Willow said.

“What is it?” he demanded, harsher than he should have, but anxiety had already raged to life inside him.

“I play bait.”

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